Yesterday, I had a very near miss that almost ended with me being hit by a car. It was 100% my fault, but I think it is worth looking out because it is something we can learn from - other than the obvious fact that it is unwise for pedestrians to dance with cars.
It was mid-morning and I was walking to the city centre along a pretty busy road and at a certain point I encountered a traffic-lit crossroads. I simply needed to get to the other side, but as much a I looked I couldn't see any of the little boxes where the green man should appear while remembering that they are on the nearside and not opposite nowadays.
It should look something like this, but not necessarily with the second box higher up. Please note, unlike with older crossings there is no red / green man on the opposite side of the road.
There was no sign and eventually when I got to the road I needed to cross and knowing I couldn't rely on an absent "green man" I looked around and saw on the opposite side of the road that the light was red and thus the cars in the the three lanes directly in front of me had to wait. There was a little island in the middle of the road and so I thought to myself that I could get to the middle and then reassess an take it from there to complete the road crossing.
And so I stepped out, keeping a constant eye to my left and the traffic light on the opposite side of the road and to my right where the three lanes of cars were waiting. Remember I am in England where we drive on the left. Suddenly the light changed when I was most of the way across the middle / second lane and totally oblivious of me the car driver in the third lane (designated to turn right) started to pull off in accordance with the changed traffic light.
Caught in the middle, I had to try to get all the way across as quickly as possible and she nearly hit me. A collision was only avoided by her skill and some surprisingly nifty evasion on my part.
In the end there was no harm done.
However, what is interesting and what it showed me is an important lesson on the difference between an excuse and explanation and the wider importance of taking personal responsibility - for to do otherwise is to blame another even unwittingly.
So, in conclusion, I will state once again and categorically that I was 100% in the wrong. I was in the wrong place and nearly got hit by a car. I am owning up and I am taking responsibility. However (and sometimes putting any kind of a but word in the middle of a sentence can be a problem because nowadays there is a tendency to disregard everything that preceded it), what happened is that I crossed the road without the green man because I simply couldn't find him.
What I have just offered is an explanation - why, while being in the obvious wrong, I found myself to be in the wrong place at the wrong time - and not an excuse - I did or didn't do something and because... (while saying it was nothing to do with me) - so in effect I am blaming the absent green man or even the car driver.
There are times of course when it is the other party, but that certainly wasn't the case yesterday.
Just a little something for you to think about on a restful Sunday my friends.
As always stay safe and well my friends.
Incidentally the header photo, while being the right junction, is a bit out of date and I was crossing the smaller road on the right. It is being renovated and so it only provides a basic idea of what was happening.
